Those of skill in the art, as well as laypersons, are no doubt familiar with barcode scanners such as those that are located, for example, at a point-of-sale (POS) location within a retail establishment. Variations of these scanners exist and may include, for example, laser-based scanners that emit laser light to scan a bar code and optical-type scanners that essentially capture electronic images of a barcode. Such scanners are often integrated with a weighing scale. In some embodiments, such a combination scale/scanner device may include an enclosure that extends upward from a POS countertop to house the scale and scanner components. In other embodiments of such a device, the majority of the scale/scanner may be recessed within a cutout that is located in the POS countertop, such that typically only a portion of the scale platter and a scanner viewing window are visible to the user.
As would also no doubt be a familiar process, such a scale/scanner device is generally used to weigh and/or scan products purchased at the POS location. For example, the scanner may be used alone to scan the barcode of items that do not require weighing. In the case of an item that does require weighing prior to purchase, the scale portion of the scale/scanner device may be used alone (generally, along with some sort of electronic item lookup), or the scanner may be used to scan a barcode associated with the item and then the scale may be used to determine the weight of the item in order to determine the item price.
When installing a new scale/scanner device in a recessed retrofit application, or even in a new application, the cutout into which the scale/scanner device will be installed generally determines the size of the scanner (and the associated viewing window) that may be used—as scanners of different sizes are frequently usable with a given scale. Because such scanners are typically directional in the sense that they emit (scan) or image capture in the direction of an arriving item, the scanner of such a scale/scanner device may also need to be oriented differently in different applications. Further, since the scan pattern emitted by such a scanner or the imaging field of view of such a scanner is directed at an angle (i.e., not perpendicular to the overlying scanner window), placement of a scanner with respect to the scanner window may also be important in order to optimize the through-window scanning area.
There has heretofore been no efficient way of installing different scanners into a given scale/scanner enclosure or altering the orientation of a scanner with respect to a given scale/scanner. To accomplish either task with respect to known scale/scanner devices, one would need to use various tools and to go through the time consuming task of removing existing scanner support hardware and installing new hardware in its place. Consequently, a better solution to accomplishing one or both of said tasks is needed. System and method embodiments of the invention meet this need.